I think one of the reasons for many battery problems in Europe is due to our weather.
Many people only do lots of short trips, thus the battery never gets fully recharged. Combine that with our hard winters with temperatures at -20 to -30 ÂșC the battery will not be able to have power enough to start at a cold morning.
We see this happen every year when the first hard frosty mornings comes, not just with older cars.
You guys & girls Down Under hardly gets any frost and most of you drive significantly greater distances, thus the conditions to keep the battery in top shape, is much better.
Of course this does not explain why the i30 in particular, have this problem.